Good morning, shareholders and guests, and welcome to Kogan.com's 2021 Annual General Meeting. My name is Greg Ridder, and I have the privilege of being the chairman of your company and also of today's meeting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant public health concerns leading to restrictions on public gatherings, this meeting is being held virtually. As it is now 12:00 P.M. and a quorum is present, I declare the meeting open. I am joined today by my fellow board members, Janine Allis, Independent Non-Executive Director, David Shafer, CFO, COO, and Executive Director, Harry Debney, Independent Non-Executive Director, James Spenceley, Independent Non-Executive Director, and Ruslan Kogan, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Director. Also in attendance today we have Mark Licciardo, the Company Secretary, and Simon Dubois from KPMG, the company's auditor. Mr.
Dubois will be available to answer questions on the conduct of the audit and the audit report, as well as the accounting policies of the company for the period ended 30 June 2021. Representatives from Computershare, the company share registry provider, are also in attendance. The notice of this meeting and explanatory memorandum were made available to all members, and I propose that the notice of meeting be taken as read. Today, we will walk you through an outline of the company's strategy and performance. We will then conduct the formal business of the meeting. Voting at this meeting will be conducted by way of a poll, and Mr. Peter Render of Computershare will act as returning officer for the poll.
For those shareholders who have not already voted prior to the meeting, instructions on how to lodge your vote are now being displayed on the screen. Voting on the resolutions is now open. You can vote at any time during the proceedings until I declare the poll voting closed. You may also change your vote at any time throughout the proceedings. I will give you a clear prompt later in the meeting to warn of the closing voting. We will also provide the opportunity for questions. As you are attending online, you can start submitting questions now by clicking the question icon. We will address your questions later in the proceeding.
If you have any difficulties voting or submitting questions, please consult the Lumi user guide which can be accessed within the platform, linked from within the notice of meeting or as available on Kogan.com's investor website. You may also ask questions verbally, and should you wish to do so, you will be prompted by the moderator as to when to ask your question. When asking if there are any questions on the presentation to be provided for the meeting or on the resolutions to be put to the meeting, I will request the moderator provide written questions first via the shareholder portal, followed by audio questions.
Thank you, Chairman. It's a pleasure to address you all today at our 2021 Annual General Meeting. Thank you for taking the time today. Since last year's AGM, we have spent nearly half the year in lockdown, working remotely, being away from our families, friends and loved ones. Needless to say, it was a challenging year for many in the country and around the world. Our team remained focused through difficult COVID-impacted operating conditions and worked hard to support our customers when they needed our help most. By making the most in-demand products and services more affordable and accessible, we made sure that all our customers could get what they needed delivered directly to their door. Our millions of customers have seen lots of great new things at Kogan.com and on the Kogan app.
Behind the scenes, our team has been inventing new ways to deliver more choice, more value and even faster delivery. I'm excited to tell you more about these things today. If you're shopping online, there are three things you are looking for: choice, value and speed. Combined, they create the ultimate convenience. It's been a long time since I started this business in my parents' garage with just a handful of products. Today, when a customer visits one of our sites, they get the incredible choice of more than 13.8 million products. Whether it's a Fortis treadmill, a 55-inch Kogan QLED smart TV, or a Matt Blatt Hans Wegner elbow chair from our exclusive brands range, a Nature's Skin product from our third-party brands, or one of the millions of products on the Kogan Marketplace.
If you're looking for it, we not only have it available, but we have it available at a great price and ready to be quickly delivered to your door. This makes Kogan.com more relevant to more customers and makes us the first and best choice for Aussies and Kiwis to find and buy what they need. This huge increase in the scale of what you can now buy on Kogan.com has underpinned the strong growth in active customers and increased loyalty and repeat customers. The number of repeat customers and repeat orders is rising sharply. These customers obviously know they're getting a great deal. What's really exciting here is that these customers are also leaving product reviews, meaning people new to online shopping can see what previous buyers thought of the product.
We also act on these reviews and ratings together with internal data sources to improve our purchasing decisions and ensure that we have the best value and range to offer our millions of visitors to the platform. We believe that once you've been able to shop for virtually everything you need with a few clicks or taps while sitting on the couch, why would you go back to battling parking lots or crowds? With a huge range, great value, and first-class service, Kogan.com and Mighty Ape are well-positioned to continue delighting customers in Australia and New Zealand. I'm very excited to share something new with you today. We've been developing our own last- mile delivery service, fully operated by Kogan.com. Kogan Delivery Services is currently operating in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.
We're using smart software to provide the most efficient delivery routes, reducing the average time between when your item has been dispatched from our warehouse to its delivery at your door. Customers who have experienced it so far have been able to track their delivery vehicle once the order has left one of our hubs, knowing exactly when to expect delivery. We've delivered nearly 60,000 orders in the last few months. It's early days, but feedback from our customers has been great, and we're excited about scaling this. The success of Kogan Marketplace has resulted in the platform nearly doubling its gross sales year-over-year to over AUD 300 million. The first quarter of FY 2022 has outperformed the prior corresponding period by nearly 50%. I talked earlier about the importance of range.
Customers want to know that if they go to Kogan.com, we'll have what they need. Kogan Marketplace has been a huge driver of this, enabling us to grow infinitely without ongoing investments in inventory. In the relatively short time since its launch in late FY 2019, our Kogan Marketplace sellers have grown to over 1,200 sellers. Kogan Marketplace is a true win-win as it gives our customers incredible choice and enables thousands of sellers to grow their business. Our business started with just one exclusive brand. Now, more than 15 years later, our exclusive brands remain a pillar of our company and a highlight of our customer offering. We now have more than a dozen exclusive brands in our stable, and they all represent ridiculously good value for our customers. We've started talking more about Kogan First, and for good reason.
Kogan First is something I get a lot of great feedback about from our customers. It's more than just free shipping. Subscribers of our loyalty program are offered exclusive deals on top of everyday discounts on our platform, Kogan First reward credits, and priority customer care. By the end of October, we had over 220,000 Kogan First members, and our medium-term goal is to reach 1 million members. Kogan First members have received nearly AUD 17 million of member benefits in the last 12 months. Any Australian smart shopper that shops online should be a Kogan First member. I've talked a lot about the products people can get delivered to their door. Many of these customers are also enjoying the same great value in some of their most essential services. Things like mobile and internet access, home energy, and credit cards.
In FY 2022, we are looking at developments to tweak, improve, and review these offers across a wide range of verticals, and customers will see these changes and benefits very soon. As Greg mentioned earlier, Mighty Ape operations are progressively integrating into the Kogan Group to deliver better value, choice, and faster delivery to customers. FY 2022 will see the launch of Jungle Express, a last-mile delivery service which is owned and operated by Mighty Ape, replicating the launch of Kogan Delivery Services in Australia. Like Kogan Delivery, Jungle Express will increase the speed of delivery in New Zealand and will allow customers to live track their orders once they have left the warehouse to when they are delivered.
We have high expectations for the ongoing success of Mighty Ape as we work to optimize group purchasing decisions and enhance logistics and operations systems over the course of FY 2022. I know many of you have been long-term shareholders since our IPO in July 2016. As we execute our long-term strategy and grow our business, we have delivered a total shareholder return of 517% from IPO to 31st October 2021. This is a significant outperformance relative to the market over the same period, and we're proud to continue to have the backing of shareholders who understand and support our long-term vision. Turning now to FY 2022 year-to-date trading. That's July 2021 through to October 2021 trading. Based on unaudited management accounts, we are proud to have delivered another period of top-line growth.
The business has right-sized inventory levels since the end of FY 2021 and brought warehousing costs down as a result. The business has also continued to strategically invest in long-term growth through expanding marketing activity to grow the Kogan First member base. We are confident this will have long-term benefits for the company. We have seen strong performance from Kogan Marketplace and Kogan First, and we are well-placed to drive growing sales through the Christmas trading period of November and December. These are usually the most important trading months of the year for us. Most of you already know that online retail is still in its infancy in Australia. It represents around 13% of total retail sales, which is far lower than comparable economies. There's a lot of runway ahead for online shopping in Australia and New Zealand.
We are proud to have continued to take market share in a rapidly growing market. Even after 15 years, it feels like we're just getting started. I'm so proud of our team, who are relentless in our pursuit of excellence and our obsession with delighting our customers. When we listed the company, we had just over AUD 200 million of gross sales, and in five years we have managed to grow to more than AUD 1 billion in gross sales. Five years on, taking a moment to look forward to our next five-year plan, we aim to achieve AUD 3 billion in annual gross sales and 1 million Kogan First subscribers by FY 2026. I believe we can do this by continuing to reinvest in our customers, ensuring that our customers get the best deals on a wide range of products delivered quickly and efficiently.
The trust and confidence we build with our customers will have customers coming back to our platform time and time again. The Kogan First member benefits are only just beginning, and the investment we are placing in Kogan First will have long-term benefits as loyal customers continue to repurchase. Finally, I would like to echo Greg's sentiment and thank the incredibly hardworking and dedicated team we have at Kogan.com. What we are achieving would not be possible without their relentless commitment, alignment in values, and obsession with delighting our customers. It's this obsession to delight our customers while focusing on digital efficiency and innovation that makes this business possible. I know many of you have enjoyed our previous AGMs, where you got to chat with our team leaders in person after the formalities. I hope we can all do that again very soon.
I will now hand back to our chairman for the formal business of today. Thank you.
Thank you, Ruslan. Let me take an opportunity now to recap some of the highlights of the 2021 financial year. We are well-versed in the continuing pandemic and the uncertain nature of the state lockdowns throughout the year. We empathize with businesses big and small that have had to navigate these difficult times, and indeed with individuals and families who have seen their lives influenced and changed in so many ways. Throughout the year, we stayed true to the company's mission and values in spite of these continued obstacles, pioneering new ways to delight over 3 million active customers by making the most in-demand products and services more affordable and accessible. We do this by making data-driven decisions and pioneering technology-based solutions to benefit our loyal community. This ensures that we are able to deliver on long-term strategies, which in turn continues to benefit customers and shareholders alike.
Our ability to be agile and promptly respond to the changing conditions throughout the year is a testament to the strength and capabilities of our team. During the year, our exclusive brands portfolio continued to achieve year-over-year revenue growth, contributing 51.6% of the group's overall gross profit in FY 2021. Kogan Marketplace continued its rapid growth, nearly doubling its gross sales to over AUD 300 million. There continues to be a strong pipeline of sellers ready to be onboarded, in addition to the increased number of sellers already using this platform throughout FY 2021, enabling more choice for customers. We are delighted to see our customers respond positively to our member program, Kogan First. Over the last 12 months, our customers have enjoyed AUD millions of benefits in the form of incentives and rewards.
We see enormous potential in this loyalty program as it is an opportunity for us to build a stronger value proposition for our most loyal customers. Mighty Ape joined Kogan.com in December 2020 and is progressing well. Mighty Ape shares a similar story to Kogan.com, being a founder-led, pure-play online retailer prominent in the New Zealand market. The business has significant potential for growth, and we are excited to be part of that journey, and we welcome everyone from Mighty Ape to the Kogan.com team. The second half of the year presented a challenging inventory position coming out of the tailwinds of the first half. However, what originally presented as a challenge was met with an astute response from our team. This was a pivotal point for our business as the global supply chain is still seeing the effects of product shortages and escalation of costs.
Our business is in an optimal position, readily able to supply products directly to our customers in time for the holiday season. In line with our growth, we further strengthened our board this year, welcoming two additional independent non-executive directors, James Spenceley and Janine Allis. James and Janine each have formidable entrepreneurial business credentials and are well-versed in ASX requirements. They have been wonderful additions to our board, providing valuable insight and a greater diversity of thought and experience. You may also have seen that we've increased our reporting and transparency in regard to modern slavery and ESG, and we welcome all shareholders to view our reports at our corporate website. Turning to group results.
The business surpassed AUD 1 billion in gross sales for the first time ever, and delivered exceptional growth across key metrics with gross sales of nearly AUD 1.2 billion, up 52.7% on FY 2020. Gross profit of AUD 203.7 million, up 61% on FY 2020. Adjusted EBITDA of AUD 61.8 million, up 24.5% on FY 2020. Adjusted net profit after tax of AUD 42.9 million, up 43.2% on FY 2020. In terms of total shareholder return, the ultimate measure of the value we are providing to you, our shareholders, the company has achieved exceptional outperformance since its IPO in July 2016.
From IPO to 31st of October 2021, over some five years and three months, our business has delivered a total shareholder return of 517% compared to the ASX 200 return of 74%. Total shareholder return over the long term is the ultimate measure of your board and executive team success. On this measure, it's fair to say we have absolutely delivered on our promises. From the board's perspectives, we are excited by the potential our company has to further build and grow our trusted brands. Over the next 12 months, we expect to see strong growth in Kogan First subscriptions, ongoing growth in exclusive brands, further enhancement and development of the Kogan Marketplace, and benefits from Mighty Ape growth and synergies flowing through.
We have an exciting future ahead of us as we continue our focus on delivering great value to our customers, team members, and our shareholders. Echoing Ruslan, I would like to commend our team at Kogan.com. Their safety, health, and well-being are at our top priorities. Our business takes all measures necessary to ensure that our team is safe, including the mental health of our team members. As our team is transitioning their return to the office, they are supported by a flexible work model and various health and well-being initiatives. I am extremely proud of the Kogan.com team who has, through all the uncertainty this pandemic continues to bring, remained focused and continue to find new ways to support our customers when they need us most. On behalf of the board, I thank you for your continued commitment to the Kogan.com mission, values, and community.
Finally, I note that while the majority of shareholders and proxy advisors have voted or recommend in favor of the remuneration report, not all proxy advisors took this position. I expect we will have a degree of adverse sentiment expressed in today's vote on the remuneration report. From my position and that of our board, I wish to reinforce that we're always listening to the feedback from our shareholders on how to review and improve our company, which is demonstrated in the significant changes made over the past 12 months, including changes to the composition of our board and the implementation of new policies and frameworks of governance of your company. I would also like to reinforce that we are delighted to have Ruslan and David, two exceptional executives, retained and inspired to aim high. When we listed the company.
I'm sorry. I think we need to move to slide 21 now. My apologies, everyone. We were out of sync for a while there. Let me please touch on operational questions. Shareholders, validly appointed proxies, and corporate representatives are entitled to ask questions at today's annual general meeting . Please submit your questions through the shareholder's portal, stating your name or the organization you represent before doing so, and please keep questions concise. You can also ask questions verbally, and should you wish to do so, you will be prompted by the moderator as to when to ask your question. I now invite any questions relating to my address or Ruslan's address that shareholders may have.
I would also like to remind all participants that there will be further opportunity to ask specific questions relating to each of the resolutions prior to voting on the relevant resolutions. Moderator, are there any questions or comments submitted via the shareholder portal at this time?
Thank you, Chair. We have no phone questions that have been submitted, but we do have written questions that have been submitted in relation to general business. I'll start with Mr. Scott Fielding, he asks: How do you plan to grow the company in future following the consolidation seen since the slowdown of COVID? What separates Kogan from the likes of Amazon, and how can Kogan compete going forward?
I'd like to pass that lovely question to Ruslan, if I can.
Thank you very much for that question. Look, we have spent 15 years or over 15 years growing this company and ensuring that the thing that stays front of mind and most important is what is our competitive advantage. That has remained the same thing throughout the entire history of our business, and that is what we do with each of our divisions. We have our exclusive brands division as one of the pillars of our business. That is the most efficient way to get a product from point of manufacture into the customer's hands. It provides a very efficient supply chain, gives us full control of the supply chain, gives us full control of pricing, and the ability to present incredible offers to our customers. We also have a very strong services division with the likes of Kogan Mobile, Kogan Internet.
We have our Kogan Marketplace. We have Kogan First, which is a key part of our strategy. You can see through our customer numbers and the number of customers that flock to Kogan.com, because they just see the incredible offering and how hard this company works to delight all of our customers. I think if you look at the business over the last year or so and the most significant developments, they would come through the continued very fast scaling of the Kogan Marketplace, which you saw in the slides, now gives even more choice. The Kogan First membership program, which you know, we've detailed the sort of savings and benefits Kogan First subscribers get, and you can see through the very rapid growth of that program as well, how important it is to our business.
It is a clear win-win-win proposition. Our customers are getting better deals. It brings more and more customers to our platform that grows our business and in turn benefits our shareholders as well. You know, if you look through our presentation, you will see some of the key highlights of the business and what we're doing on an ongoing basis, like we've been doing for 15 years, to ensure that there's a really strong competitive advantage in our business that is focused on delighting our customers.
Thank you, Ruslan. Can I turn back to the moderator, please? Any more questions?
We have several more questions, Chair. There's a few questions from Beatrice Tarnowski. The first question is on inventory. Excessive stock purchases contributed to the 60% share price drop this year. Have the relevant parties been held accountable for this decision? And if so, what action was taken?
Do you wanna take the first part of that question, Ruslan, as a minimum?
Yeah. It has been a very challenging trading environment over the last or since the pandemic started. A lot of uncertainty, a lot of supply chain disruptions, you know, a lot of demand fluctuations, a lot of logistics issues, a lot of shipping delays, just a very challenging environment on a lot of fronts. Where the business was positioned late last calendar year was we were sitting in a position where there were really elevated sales and a lot of demand.
There were lots of supply chain disruptions, and all of our systems and all of the predictive mechanisms we use said, "If you're going to have a fuller inventory position, now is the time to do it." Obviously, that didn't play out well with all the uncertainty, and we ended up in a position where our warehouses were full, and we incurred a lot of additional charges associated with inventory. That is, well, not an optimal position, but had we had our time again, would've made the same identical decision. We're a better business for it operationally, and we're a much stronger and better company today than we ever were.
Yeah, there's a lot of systems that have improved in the business as a result of it, and we were actually, you know, put into a very good position off the back of that, where we learned to deal with some of those scaling issues. If you look at Australian e-commerce and what Kogan has achieved in e-commerce over the last year, it is just phenomenal. The absolute dollar value of our growth, the absolute value of additional items dispatched, the absolute quantum of additional items dispatched. It has been a challenge that our team has tackled head on that has made us a much stronger company for having gone through that.
Thank you, Ruslan. Next questions, please.
We have another question on inventory from Michelle Richardson. You've already covered some of that, Ruslan, but I'll ask the question. In the FY 2021 result, you called out inventory and warehousing costs as a drag on the FY 2021 results. You also said these were one-off costs and were resolved. The trading update again calls out inventory write-offs and warehousing as impacting gross profit and EBITDA for FY 2022 to date. Well, you've already answered this question. Can you expand on what the warehousing and inventory issues are and how you will fully resolve them? The second part of the question is: Is there a focus by management and/or the board on EPS? Growing sales is fine, but pointless if you can't improve profitability, or worse, it goes backwards.
Ongoing shareholder returns will be based on growing EPS, not just growing revenue.
Again, straight back to you, Ruslan.
Yeah. With our business, we have provided commentary around the inventory position and around our warehousing and they are areas of the business that we are constantly looking to improve. Over the long term, one of the strategies of this company is to continually improve those things. We have also provided commentary around our right sizing of our inventory, and that, you know, we believe we have a very healthy inventory position right now, and especially leading into the core sales period of the year, including Black Friday, which is on tomorrow. We are very happy with the most in-demand inventory that we have and the position that we're in on that front.
In terms of earnings in the business, look, there's a lot of merit to what's said in the question, and our shareholders would know that we are one of the only online retailers in the world to have paid dividends or to be a dividend paying stock historically and have a profitability profile. This is a company that was profitable right from the start. This was a company that was grown organically and funded through the profitability of the company. It's our job as management to constantly balance that with the fact that we are in an industry that is growing really quickly, and we're in an industry that is fighting for market share, and that is deciding what the lay of the land will look like in 10, 20 and 30 years. Online retail is transforming.
Even though, you know, if you look at our business and what we've been able to achieve, yes, we've got some amazing scale from a business that started in a garage. We now do over AUD 1 billion of sales. The online retail market in Australia is still massively under-penetrated compared to the rest of the world. We're at about, you know, 10% or so of retail trade happening online. You know, Kogan is a fraction of that. We represent about 0.3% of overall retail in Australia. There's a huge land grab and an opportunity out there.
We as a management team are always, balancing the earnings profile of the business and ensuring we can continue to grow, really, really quickly. Ultimately, what we as a team are after is executing our long-term strategy and long-term returns to our shareholders.
Well, let me add just a little to that. I think in our continuous disclosures over the past 12 months in particular, we've been very overt in calling out the inventory issue. We don't shy from where we are in anything, and we go and have gone to great detail in those disclosures. We've followed that journey and pointed out in our more recent disclosures that that issue is behind us. We now have a great inventory position leading into the busiest time of the year. We don't have a carryover of dodgy inventory. We're in good shape going forward, and we're very comfortable with where we sit now. Please follow those same disclosures and follow us accordingly.
Thank you, Chair. Further question from Beatrice Tarnowski in relation to short sellers. What is Kogan.com doing to get in front of the ongoing short-selling issue?
Well, I think with the short sellers, there are people who have a view and they're supporting that view with their dollars. Our view is we run our business, we drive for the long-term strategy, and we stay true to that in delivering great products, great value every single day to our Australian constituency. We believe that shines through and we'll be judged on our performance. Others make speculations. I don't know what those speculations or expectations might be.
Thank you, Chair. We have a question from the Brent Family Super Fund. Can you please comment on the recent decline in the share price?
Well, again, the expectations of delivery and with volatility around some of the messaging we have had with inventory. Now we have positions where states are coming out of lockdowns. Bricks and mortar are coming back. Different industries are changing. Our success is continuing to drive on our performance. There are many factors in what drives share price. Again, we stay true to our long-term strategy and we drive for that, believing ultimately that is going to be the delivery that matters. We are very cognizant of driving long-term shareholder wealth.
Thank you, Chair. That concludes all questions in relation to general business.
Thank you. If that's the case, I will now turn to the business of today's meeting. There are seven items of business for the AGM as set out in the notice of meeting. Six of these items are to be voted on. There is one further item which is contingent on the outcome of item two, adoption of the remuneration report. At last year's AGM, the company received greater than 25% of the votes cast against the adoption of the remuneration report for the 2020 financial year.
If 25% or more of the votes that are cast are voted against the adoption of the remuneration report at this annual general meeting , the resolution at item eight will be put to the annual general meeting and shareholders will be required to vote on a resolution, which is a spill resolution that another meeting be held within 90 days, at which all of the directors other than the CEO must be offered up for election. Shareholders, validly appointed proxies, and corporate representatives will be given the ability to vote upon registration today. Proxy voting received prior to the meeting will be shown on the screen for such resolution dealt with today. Voting on the resolutions is currently open, and you can vote at any time until I declare the voting closed. Results will be released to the ASX after the conclusion of the meeting.
The voting icon is available within the navigation bar. Once you click on this, the resolutions will appear on your screen along with the for, against, and abstain voting options. Simply select one of those options to cast your vote. When voting is closed, your final voting selection will be recorded. If you have any difficulties, please refer to the user guide, which can be accessed through the platform. I note that item two, adoption of the remuneration report, item six, increase in non-executive directors' fee pool, item seven, renewal of equity incentive plan, and item eight, board spill meeting, are subject to voting exclusions as outlined in the notice of meeting. The first item of business is to receive and consider the company's annual financial report, together with the directors' and auditors' reports for the period ended 30th June 2021.
Are there any questions or comments in relation to the directors' and auditors' reports submitted by the shareholder portal?
Thank you, Chair. We have no phone or written questions in relation to this.
There being no questions, we come to the items of business for which a vote is required. Details of the proxy votes will be displayed on the screen after all resolutions have been considered. As previously stated, and pursuant to the fourth edition, Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, all votes will be taken on a poll. The second item of business and our first resolution to be voted on today relates to the adoption of the 2021 remuneration report. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to item two submitted by the shareholder portal?
Thank you, Chair. We have a question. The question is from Mr. Mariano and Miss Jacqueline Castillo. I'm very respectful and appreciative of the hard work and progress made by our company and its founders. That said, I submit that respect is a two-way street, and that while I accept that discretion by management is essential for effective decision-making, a more transparent approach to the LTI plan would make shareholders feel more respected.
Thank you, and thank you for your long-term shareholder support. These are sometimes tricky questions. There are enormous disclosures in notices of meetings and in the resolutions put, but I understand that is sometimes a laborious way to get to the detail. Nevertheless, it's there in the disclosure. The resolution was not one ultimately of discretion of management or of our board. It was the discretion of the shareholders at last year's annual general meeting who voted in favor of that resolution. I'm delighted that they voted in favor of that resolution, and we have the right sort of remuneration and incentivization of our leadership group, and we have them there for the journey we're on and for the delivery of the ambitious plans that we have.
Thank you, Chair. Another question from Beatrice Tarnowski in relation to remuneration. Remuneration policies are meant to demonstrate a clear relationship between key executive performance and remuneration. Shouldn't then the executives be receiving a 60% reduction in their remuneration to reflect the 60% share price drop this year?
I think it's clear that when we look at the remuneration of our key personnel, we have done exactly as was said last year. The actual remuneration achieved for our two most senior executives was in the order of less than AUD 500,000 in both cases last year. There is still undelivered time on their long-term incentive, which takes us through to this annual general meeting in 2023. Anything in regard to their long-term incentives is still moot until that time. There's a delivery date. I will be delighted if they are well rewarded for the enormous work that they do because all of us as shareholders will be well remunerated in that case.
There is an absolute transparent link between the LTI and what every one of us has in terms of visibility of the share price and the delivery of value. I'm looking forward to that playing out over the coming years as we keep this pursuit of ambitious strategy.
Thank you, Chair. That completes all questions in relation to this resolution.
Thank you. As there are no further questions or comments, I now put the motion that the remuneration report be adopted as set out in the notice of meeting. The next resolution relates to the re-election of board-endorsed Mr. David Shafer as a director. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to this item submitted by the shareholder portal?
There are no questions or comments in relation to this resolution.
Are there any verbal questions or comments in relation to this item?
No, there are no verbal questions or comments either in relation to this resolution.
Thank you. As there are no questions or comments, I now put the motion that Mr. David Shafer be re-elected as a director of the company as set out in the notice of meeting. The next resolution relates to the election of board-endorsed Ms. Janine Allis as a director. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to this item submitted by the shareholder portal?
There are no verbal or written questions in relation to this resolution.
As there are no questions or comments, I now put the motion that Ms. Janine Allis be elected as a director of the company as set out in the notice of meeting. The next resolution relates to the election of board-endorsed Mr. James Spenceley as a director. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to this item submitted by the shareholder portal or verbally?
Thank you, Chair. There are no verbal questions submitted, but there is one written question that's been submitted. It's from the Australian Shareholders' Association. It says the following. "Thank you for meeting with the ASA before the AGM. The ASA are a voice for retail shareholders. I have a question regarding the election of James Spenceley. Mr. Spenceley is Chairman of Airtasker, Chairman of Swoop Telecom, and Non-Executive Director of Think Childcare, as well as being a Director of Kogan and on Kogan's Remuneration and Nomination Committee and Audit and Risk Management Committee. The first question, does Mr. Spenceley agree with the generally accepted view that being a chair is more onerous than a director, and that his current directorships creates an excessive workload?
Uh-
If it is not excessive, does Mr. Spenceley accept that other directors in the ASX have previously had excessive workloads and denied they were excessive only to find when COVID or other matters arose, they were unable to service all of the companies to which they were appointed?
First of all, just before I hand over to James, I just correct the record there. Think Childcare, which was mentioned in the question, has ceased to be an ASX-listed company, and that has released James from that workload. Let me allow James to speak on his own behalf.
Thank you, Greg, and thank you to the Australian Shareholders' Association. Had a lot of interaction at forums with the ASA and really have a huge amount of appreciation for the work they do in making sure that retail shareholders are represented, both in capital raises, you know, and as well in voting online. Thanks to the ASA for the question. I do note, as Greg mentioned, the factually incorrect there. I stepped down from the board of Think as and when they were delisted from the ASX. That had been a rather long scheme of arrangement where the business was purchased and the scheme completed in October. The first question I think is a truism, that being a chair is more work than being a director.
I don't think that's a widely held belief. I think that's fact. I don't believe that I currently have or have had issues with my workload. I would like to point to my attendance records on all public boards that I've been on, which is 100%. I have not missed a single meeting, and I've managed to do that during COVID, as well as during COVID and listing two businesses being both Airtasker and Swoop Telecom. Given those IPOs are particularly hard work, I would point to my ability to manage that workload. I would also draw that comparison to being the CEO, as Ruslan would probably also agree, being the CEO of a fast-growing ASX 200 listed company.
Growing Vocus from very small company to one with over, you know, AUD 1.8 billion worth of revenue and thousands of employees was a heck of a lot more work than I currently have. I'm very comfortable in my workload. I'd also like to draw the ASA's attention to the returns that I've generated for those companies that they mentioned. I think Swoop from joining the board to its takeover being completed, shareholder returns were 350% or more over our benchmark. Swoop Telecom since listing is 350% above the benchmark, as is Airtasker at 50% above benchmark.
I have hope and just that there would be some credit towards what I've delivered for retail shareholders in each of those, as well as for Vocus, where we delivered over 1,000% return for retail shareholders during that period I was involved with companies. Thank you for the question, and I certainly am very comfortable both with the team I've got here that support me and my workloads with all across those businesses.
Let me add from the board's perspective, certainly from mine as Chair, it's been a delight to have James and indeed Janine join us this year. They're terrific directors. They're energetic, they're agile. They get it. It's a pleasure to have them on board. Their contribution is without question. I think we're a better company.
Thank you, Chair. There are no further questions in relation to this resolution.
As there are no questions or comments, I now put the motion that Mr. James Spenceley be elected as a director of the company as set out in the notice of meeting. This resolution to be voted on today relates to the approval of increase in non-executive directors' fee pool. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to this item submitted to the shareholder portal or verbally?
We have no verbal questions submitted. We do have a written question. The question is from Beatrice Tarnowski. The question is, this year a dividend was not given to shareholders. Why then is the board seeking increases in remuneration, the non-executive directors' fee pool and the equity incentive plan?
First of all, let me say that the directors have not received an increase in remuneration, nor are they seeking one. We are asking here for headroom in the pool available to pay directors. This pool was established at IPO in 2016, and during the course of this year, with the addition of two new directors, Janine and James, we're bumping up against the cap that we have now. This is a once every now and then, perhaps every three, four or five years, request to bump the pool. As things stand now, we would be unable to appoint another director, for example. I think that's all I can say at this stage.
Thank you, Chair. There are no further questions in relation to this resolution.
As there are no further questions or comments, I now put the motion to increase the non-executive directors' fee pool as set out in the notice of meeting. This resolution to be voted on today relates to the approval of the renewal of equity incentive plan. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to this item submitted by the shareholder portal or indeed verbally?
Thank you, Chair. There are no verbal or written questions submitted in relation to this resolution.
As there are no questions or comments, I now put the motion that the equity incentive plan is renewed. The final resolution of the day relates to item eight, board spill meeting, which you will recall is a conditional item. Proxy votes received are displayed on the screen now. Are there any questions or comments in relation to this item submitted by the shareholder portal or indeed verbally?
Thank you, Chair. There are no verbal or written questions submitted in relation to this resolution.
As there are no further questions or comments, I now put the motion that the board spill meeting as set out in the notice of meeting. I would like to advise that the voting on all resolutions will close shortly. We will take a few moments now to allow you to finish voting. Please complete your voting now. Please note that the final results will be advised to the ASX and also made available on the Kogan.com's investor website after the meeting. That concludes the formal business of Kogan.com's 2021 Annual General Meeting . However, I'd like to take a quick moment to thank some important people. Firstly, thank you to my fellow board members for your valuable contribution.
Every member of the board has been extremely generous with their time, and it creates an environment for us to all engage in robust discussions to ensure Kogan.com continues advancing in the right direction. I would also like to thank our hardworking Kogan.com team members who keep their shoulders to the wheel every day. Their dedication is inspiring, as is the culture of Kogan.com. Finally, thank you to our fellow shareholders. Voting is now closed, and I thank you for your attendance this afternoon. I now declare the meeting closed.